About the Legion

The Legion of Data Nerds is a group of concerned Evanston parents. We started by reviewing District 65’s school closure plan (the Structural Deficit Reduction Plan, or SDRP): validating its assumptions, and trying to find out whether there are more solutions available than closing schools outright. Together we have more than 200 years of professional experience in data analysis, research methodology and evidence-informed decision-making, across public health, economics, engineering, finance, education and policy.

Why we’re doing this

We want to make clear how the District’s methods shape the scenarios that go to the Board. We have serious methodological concerns, and we have laid them out to the administration.

These concerns are not about the community process or its underlying goals. They are about how the methodological choices in the process have predetermined the results.

How we work

• We show our work. Our data, code and notebooks are public on GitHub. Every figure on this site should trace back to a District document or a public dataset.
• We correct ourselves in public. When we update or correct an analysis, the page says so, with a dated red note in the margin.
• We highlight sparingly. The yellow highlighter marks the one or two sentences in each piece that carry its main finding.

Contact us

Reach the Nerds at d65.legionofnerds@gmail.com.